July 2011

10

I tell you, one goes away on vacation for a week and boom, there's more fascinating news about investing than you can shake a stick at (what in the heck does that saying mean anyhow). Here's some of the items that caught my eye as I try to catch up on all of the news. Some of them I have read already and some of them I'm planning on reading soon. [more]

Recs

13

While there are certain aspects about my broker (which I initially named but after writing about the hacking incident that you will see a little further down this post I have decided to redact) that I don't particularly like, such as its limited access to non-investment grade bonds (the whole grading system for bonds as determined by Moody's & S&P is a complete joke anyhow...but that's a topic for another day) and its limited access to IPOs (darn you for costing me 10% or so on UAN by making me purchase it on the open market), there is a lot to like about it as well. [more]

Recs

20

I fully admit that I have absolutely no idea where the overall stock market is headed over the next several months, year, or even several years. There's plenty of talking heads on CNBC who will make guesses on that subject for you. I consider myself to be an investment picker. I say "investment" picker rather than "stock" picker because I am willing to look anywhere for returns. [more]

Recs

8

Man there certainly has been a lot of spin-offs lately. Here's an interesting bit of special situation news. ConocoPhillips (COP) just announced that it plans separate its E&P (Good COP) and refining / remarketing businesses (Bad COP). The transaction will take place as a special dividend of the refining shares to existing shareholders prior to the end of June 2012. [more]

Recs

6

The interesting contingent value rights that were issued in conjunction with Sanofi’s (SNY) acquisition of Genzyme dropped by 15% yesterday on disappointing results from its Phase Three trial. It now appears as through the drug will be approved for sale in the U.S., enabling $2.00 of the milestone payments to be made fairly easily but that its ultimate sales will be fairly limited.

GCVRZ is currently trading at $2.21. I'm glad that I never purchased this stock when it was first issued, but it's starting to look fairly cheap. One is essentially paying $0.21 for a less likely, but still possible $12/share in milestone payments if future test results are more positive. [more]